I was planning to whine about the onset of nasty winter weather the past couple of weeks, but as we are getting ready to enter 2018, all I can say is that spring is only four months away! Four months is not such a long time when you reach my age. More...

Now that Thanksgiving has passed and many of us are getting ready for Christmas or whatever end of the year holiday you celebrate, I thought I would share with you this essay written by Paul Hetzler, from Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. More...

I have yet to see any frost up here on my hill in Conesville as we enter the middle of October. It still feels more like mid-summer than mid-fall. I have not had to fire up the woodstove in weeks now. More...

Considering the climate where the personification of evil is alleged to make his home, you’d think the devil would wear flip-flops or something, but it seems he prefers lace-up footwear (Prada, I’m told). More...

As we approach the middle of this year’s growing season, I want to remind you to make sure you continue to thoroughly water any newly planted trees and shrubs, as well as any that you planted a year, or even two years ago. More...

This is the time of year when many gardeners think about buying topsoil for a variety of reasons. In some cases their own soil is very shallow with bedrock outcrops on the surface or just a few inches below the surface. More...

As the snow fades away and the landscape begins to turn green we are suddenly overwhelmed at all the gardening chores that need to be accomplished. It seems like we go from winter to summer without enough time to enjoy the spring each year. More...

I sometimes get questions from readers via email and when several good ones arrive at once, I think it is worthy of a column since other readers very likely have similar questions!When is the best time to apply mole treatment for More...

EAB stands for Emerald Ash Borer, an insect pest that has been killing thousands and thousands of ash trees in N.Y. State and elsewhere and which is likely to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. More...

This week’s column was written by Paul Hetzler, a Cornell Cooperative Extension agent from St Lawrence County. Although Paul lives quite a bit north of us, his winter seems to be a lot like ours! More...

Happy New Year to all of you dear readers! I sincerely hope that 2017 is a great year for you and for the entire world. It certainly will be different, philosophically at least, from a political perspective. More...

I was not at all happy to have to deal with October 27th snow/sleet/ice/rain storm that made driving very tricky and also took down lots of the remaining leaves. It seems too early for fall to end and much too soon for winter to arrive. More...

Fall weather has arrived and the hillsides are starting to show some color, but it seems to be beginning later this season than most years. The summer-long drought has most likely caused many trees to turn brown prematurely. More...

You know it has been a rough winter already when a + 30 degree day feels like a heat wave and you want to put shorts on and run around the back yard! Last week I wrote about the burning characteristics of certain types of firewood. More...

The weather this past week or so has destroyed all remnants of fall that sometimes lingers well into December. Now is the time to hope for a January thaw, but many would settle for plus 32 instead of minus anything. More...

I don’t miss winter a bit after hearing about the cold and snow that has already hit most of the Capital District/Hudson Valley region. This early start may portend a nasty winter for northerners in general. More...

For those of you who live in the Catskills and Capital District, east of the Hudson River, the much ballyhooed rain predicted for last Tuesday turned out to be far less than we expected, or needed. More...

Those of you who read these columns on a regular basis know that I test a few different tomato varieties each season. Usually these are plants that I have been given by friends that are in cell packs and often very overgrown. More...

I previously wrote about some uncommon flowering trees, some that are suitable to plant beneath overhead power lines. One of my pet peeves is seeing tall tree species planted directly beneath power or telephone lines. More...

I just returned from a four-day road trip and was delighted to see that my friend Christine had left me about six large tomato plants that are labeled as a variety called “Mountain Fresh.” This is a variety I have never grown and one of a More...

Plants do not have the luxury of heading south for the winter as some people and many birds do, although I do know some snowbirds who pack up and move their houseplants south with them each year. More...